Embattled minister Ted Haggard admitted buying methamphetamine from a male prostitute today but denied ever using the drug or having sex with him.

The prostitute, Michael Jones, a 49-year-old gay bodybuilder who claims he had a three-year, sex-for-pay arrangement with Haggard, responded that Haggard should come clean, admit the affair and move on with his life.

When asked his reaction to Haggard’s claim he threw the meth away, Jones scoffed, “It’s just like Clinton, who said he didn’t inhale.”

Jones said Haggard didn’t use meth the first year of their meetings, but started taking it about two years ago. He said Haggard snorted the meth every time they had sex.

“This is ridiculous,” Jones said. “Yesterday, he didn’t even know me. Today, he admits buying meth but never using it. Who’s more credible?

“The more he goes into denial, the messier it gets. He should just come clean, admit to the affair and move on.”

For more than two years, Jones didn’t know Haggard was a member of the clergy. He said he suspected it intuitively, especially when Haggard would call him from a 719 area-code telephone, which is in Colorado Springs.

“It didn’t matter to me because there was no emotion in the relationship. It was just sex,” he said. “About 80 percent of my clientele are married men. I’ve been with lots of clergy.”

Asked how he would know a client is from the clergy, Jones smiled slightly and said, “I just know.”

After Jones made the affair public by naming the influential Haggard on a radio talk show Thursday, skeptics began to doubt the story, particularly after Haggard told a television news crew that night that he never had sex with Jones and had always remained faithful to his wife, Gayle, with whom he has five children.

So this morning Jones submitted to a lie detector, which he failed. The test administrator, John Kresnik, characterized Jones’ answers about the sex as “deceptive.” Jones was asked only about the sex and not about the drugs. Kresnik discounted the test results because of the stress Jones has been under and because he hasn’t been eating or sleeping for two days. Kresnik suggested that Jones retake the test next week. Jones said he doubted he will retake them.

“I don’t want to pursue this anymore,” Jones said this afternoon while being prepped in a studio for back-to-back national television interviews. “I’ve made my point. He’s the one who has discredited himself. He should admit it and move on.”

Jones said he learned how influential and prominent Haggard was when he saw him on the History Channel. “I got really angry about it,” he said. “I owed it to the gay community because of the hypocrisy we put up with from the religious right. He’s up there preaching to millions that gays shouldn’t be allowed to marry while he’s running around behind his wife’s back having sex with a gay man.

“What’s this about the ‘sanctity of marriage’?” he asked. “The divorce rate is about 50 percent. But they don’t want two consenting adults of the same sex to be able to marry.”

This afternoon, Focus on the Family founder James C. Dobson released a statement about the accusations, and Haggard’s admissions.

“All of us at Focus on the Family are heartsick over the allegation, not yet confirmed, that Ted has had a private life with a homosexual for several years. We will await the outcome of this story, but the possibility that an illicit relationship has occurred is alarming to us and to millions of others,” the statement read.

It went on to say: “Ted has been my close friend and colleague for many years…He will continue to be my friend even if the worst allegations prove accurate. Nevertheless sexual sin, whether heterosexual or homosexual, has serious consequences and we are extremely concerned for Ted, his family and his church.”

In a press briefing today, White House spokesman Tony Fratto confirmed that Haggard had been to the White House several times but said the allegations shouldn’t affect how other evangelicals will vote in Tuesday’s election. “I think the community (of evangelicals) understand where the Republican Party is on issues that are important to them,” he said. “Something that an individual did that affects them personally shouldn’t affect their interest in advancing issues that they care about.”

Few New Life Staff members are as close to Haggard as Lance Coles, who takes a behind-the-scenes role as the church s administrative pastor and has been with the church since its founding.

On Thursday, Coles talked to Haggard under circumstances he never imagined. Haggard told Coles that not all of the allegations against him were true, but some were.

Haggard said he was a broken and repentant man, and pledged to do whatever it takes “to do the right thing,” according to Coles. Coles replied: “We’ll get through this.”

“He has done so much good for so many people for so long; that can’t be ignored,” Coles said. “He has helped numerous others who have found themselves in sinful situations with love, compassion and patience. He’s a perfect candidate to be helped now. As Christians, we believe in sowing and reaping. He and Gayle (Haggard’s wife) have sown so much for so many people, they will reap what we can do for them.

Sitting in his office today with a view of the Front Range, Coles turned to his computer screen and watched a Web video of Haggard telling reporters that he was referred to Jones for a massage and bought meth from the man but never used it.

Tears welled up in Cole’s eyes. This was news to him. Some people are going to not believe Haggard’s explanation of his relationship with Jones, he is told.

“I know who he is at its core,” Coles said. “To observe his actions in the last 48 hours just testifies to the state of being worn pretty thin. I think in his zeal to love and serve people, he committed himself to so many noble causes that it brought him to a point of weakness that we’re seeing exposed.”

He said if Haggard had used meth, he surely would have exhibited the signs and that would have been noticed by those close to him.

“There was a temptation to use the drugs, and the temptation itself is not all that shocking,” Coles said. “We are all tempted.”

He said on business trips Haggard periodically arranges for massages, but it isn’t routine. Coles said he hasn’t traveled with Haggard for years, so his firsthand knowledge was limited.

Haggard met for several hours Thursday and then again today with the church’s outside board of overseers, a panel of Haggard’s peers from other congregations that have the authority of disciplining the senior pastor, removing him from his post or restoring him to ministry, said Rob Brendle, an associate pastor at the church.

Late Saturday, the board is to provide an update to the church’s senior staff, which throughout the last 48 hours has not been privy to some of Haggard’s admissions until learning them from the media.

Haggard has “willingly and humbly cooperated with the process and fully submitted himself” to the oversight group, which includes three Colorado pastors and a Louisiana pastor, Larry Stockstill. He is from the congregation where Haggard worked as a youth pastor more than two decades ago — before, Haggard has explained, he had a vision while camping and fasting on Pikes Peak that caused him to start New Life Church in his basement.

Brendle said the board will “primarily work with Ted,” and he didn’t know whether Jones would be contacted. Brendle said he was standing behind his senior pastor, and also wants to be open and forthright with the broader community about the rapidly moving developments involving Haggard’s status.

“As Christians, we are never surprised at sin,” Brendle said. “Ted has been a mentor and a good friend. I am commited to standing by him and his family. It is a sad time, but I am committed to serving New Life Church and our community. I believe with all my heart our best days are ahead.”

“We believe New Life Church is not a man or a building,” Brendle said. “It s a community of people who together have a strong and time-tested relationship that will endure and grow.”

A message from Haggard — most likely via video — is expected to be aired at services Sunday at New LIfe Church’s $18 million, 7,500-seat sanctuary, the largest worship space in Colorado. The New Life campus rises on the city’s far northern suburbs across Interstate 25 from the Air Force Academy.

Services are expected to be led Sunday by interim senior pastor Ross Parsley, a veteran of the New Life leadership team, and also include an address from Stockstill.

Eastbound lanes of Interstate 70 were closed Saturday afternoon at Georgetown due to a semitrailer fire, the Colorado Department of Transportation tweeted. The right lane remains closed, while the other lanes have since reopened. Drivers can expect heavy delays, transportation officials said. The fire initially closed both sides of the interstate as smoked crossed the highway. The load on the...